1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technology for controlling output of a shared job.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there is known a mechanism by which plural users share print jobs that are accumulated in a print server and centrally controlled. For example, patent document 1 discloses a system for making a share setting at the printer driver, and accumulating, in the print server, print jobs that are set to a share setting so that plural users can share the jobs.
However, in conventional methods, the operation of controlling the output of a shared job is not taken into consideration. In this case, output control refers to “data management of shared jobs” and “controlling execution of shared jobs”.
In the conventional technology, the method of managing data of shared jobs is performed by displaying a job list of all of the set shared jobs to users of shared jobs. However, the method of managing data of shared jobs is preferably performed to display or not display shared jobs according to the job execution environment (for example, “the installation area of the image processing apparatus”) of the users of shared jobs. This is an effective method for realizing high confidentiality of the shared information, even if the jobs are shared (for solving the security problem of shared jobs).
Furthermore, the method of executing shared jobs is preferably performed to electronically transfer the data by e-mail transmission, instead of printing out the data on paper. This is because electronic transfer is an effective method for flexibly providing information to user environments that have become versatile due to the prevalence of information terminals having high portability, and for realizing reduction of TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) performed as a corporate activity.
As described above, the conventional methods do not implement output control of shared jobs in consideration of confidentiality of shared information, flexible information providing in versatile user environments, and TCO reduction.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2010-152726